The US Department of Justice on Thursday charged WikiLeaks frontman Julian Assange with breaching the US Espionage Act by publishing military and diplomatic files in 2010, rejecting his claim that he is a journalist.
The department unveiled 17 new charges against Assange, accusing him of directingFULL STORY

Authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir have killed a top militant who pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda, officials said, describing his death as a major blow to militancy in the disputed territory.
As the news of Zakir Musa’s death spread on Thursday hundreds of protesters spilled out on theFULL STORY

Thousands of young activists in Australia and New Zealand yesterday launched a global protest demanding that politicians and business leaders move swiftly to curb greenhouse-gas emissions to fight climate change.
Coordinators expect more than 1 million young people to join the protests in at least 110FULL STORY

Many conservationists on Thursday reacted with anger over Botswana’s decision to lift its blanket ban on hunting, describing it as a “horrifying” move, though others backed the idea.
Botswana fended off criticism of its decision to end the five-year ban, saying the move would not threatenFULL STORY

A tentative deal has been reached to settle multiple lawsuits brought against the television and movie company cofounded by Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual misconduct by scores of women.
Attorneys involved in the negotiations on Thursday told a federal bankruptcy court judge duringFULL STORY

Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah has returned an honorary degree awarded by Britain’s the University of Oxford after a global backlash led by celebrities including George Clooney and Elton John for proposing the death penalty for gay sex and adultery.
Nearly 120,000 people had signed a petitionFULL STORY

The UK election authorities on Thursday acknowledged that some EU citizens were turned away at UK polling stations while trying to cast ballots in the European Parliament elections.
The hashtag #DeniedMyVote began trending in the UK as voters cast their ballots in one of the 28FULL STORY

Populists yesterday were hoping to cause upsets across the EU as the European Parliament elections got under way in polls that could challenge the Brussels consensus.
Britain and the Netherlands began four days of voting across the continent in a contest in which rising populist forcesFULL STORY

Germany has granted refugee status to two Hong Kong activists facing rioting charges at home, they said on Wednesday, apparently the first time Germany has acknowledged such status for democracy campaigners from the territory.
Ray Wong (黃台仰), 25, and Alan Li (李東昇), 27, both told ReutersFULL STORY

A Democratic lawmaker on Wednesday blamed the administration of US President Donald Trump’s border policies for the deaths of migrant children, an accusation the acting head of the US Department of Homeland Security called “appalling.”
The brouhaha came at a US House of Representatives Homeland SecurityFULL STORY